Congress & Policy
How does a bill become a law?
Seven steps, and most bills die at the second. Who can stop it, and why spending rides a must-pass vehicle.
Independent · Nonpartisan · Not a government website
How federal economic policy works, in plain language.
FEDPOLICY.ORG explains the Federal Reserve, federal spending and debt, and the way Congress moves money — what each thing is, how it works, and what just changed — for a reader who has no background in any of it and no wish to be told what to think.
Congress writes the laws and appropriates the money The Treasury spends it, and borrows the difference The Federal Reserve sets the price of money, answering to neither
Latest explainers
Congress & Policy
What is a filibuster?
The Senate rule that turns 51 votes into 60. Not in the Constitution, rarely a speech, and it decides which bills die.
The Federal Reserve
What causes inflation?
Sustained inflation is a monetary phenomenon. Money growing faster than output is a policy choice; supply shocks are not an alibi.
Glossary
Appropriations
The annual laws that give federal agencies legal authority to spend money.
Live data
Fed funds target
3.50–3.75%
as of Sep 6, 2026 · Federal Reserve
CPI, 12-month
3.5%
as of Jul 1, 2026 · BLS
Total public debt
$40.1T
as of Sep 3, 2026 · Treasury
Total public debt outstanding
$40,102,964,278,586
Estimated now, extrapolated from the published figure at the average rate of the last twelve months — about $7.6 billion a day. These digits are a projection, not a Treasury reading.
Published figure $40,102,964,278,586
Clock after the one at
govspending.org,
a sibling publication in our network.
New here? Start with these four.
Each one assumes nothing, and each links on to the next.
- 01 What is the Federal Reserve?
- 02 What is the FOMC?
- 03 The Fed's dual mandate, explained
- 04 What happens when interest rates rise
Or jump to questions answered, the glossary, the live data, or ten questions to test yourself.
Three rules this site is built on
- 01
Standing explainers, kept current
Each subject has one page that is revised in place, with its publish and last-updated dates on it, rather than a new article every time.
- 02
Figures from the agency that published them
Every number is fetched from the Federal Reserve, Treasury, BLS, Congress.gov or FRED and shown with its “as of” period and the date it was retrieved. A figure that has not been read is not shown.
- 03
Edited, not all hand-written
Clem Ziroli III is answerable for the whole site. Explainers are reviewed before they publish; the daily briefs publish automatically once every figure has been found at its source. The methodology says which is which, and what is fact and what is interpretation.
The numbers, as we last read them
Every series, with its chart →Fed funds target
3.50–3.75%
as of Sep 6, 2026 · Federal Reserve
CPI, 12-month
3.5%
as of Jul 1, 2026 · BLS
Total public debt
$40.1T
as of Sep 3, 2026 · Treasury
30-year mortgage
6.71%
as of Sep 3, 2026 · Freddie Mac
What just happened
No dated posts yet. Standing explainers are maintained continuously; timestamped posts appear here when something happens — the next scheduled one is the FOMC's decision.
The Federal Reserve
FOMC, the dual mandate, QE and QT, the balance sheet, and how a rate decision reaches the economy.
Federal Spending & Debt
The debt, deficits, appropriations, CBO projections, entitlements and interest costs.
Congress & Policy
How bills become law, committees, and the votes that move fiscal policy.
Related from our network
congressvotetracker.org
Recorded House and Senate votes, by member